The experiment, in April, used a disabled form of the virus
that causes AIDS to reprogram Emma’s immune system genetically to kill cancer
cells.

The treatment may replace bone-marrow transplant, an
expensive and difficult treatment for this leukemia.

And,

Hervé Hoppenot, the president of Novartis Oncology, called the
research “fantastic” and said it had the potential — if the early results held
up — to revolutionize the treatment of leukemia and related blood cancers.
Researchers say the same approach, reprogramming the patient’s immune system,
may also eventually be used against tumors like breast and prostate cancer.

To perform the treatment, doctors remove millions of the
patient’s T-cells — a type of white blood cell — and insert new genes that
enable the T-cells to kill cancer cells. The technique employs a disabled form
of H.I.V. because it is very good at carrying genetic material into T-cells.
The new genes program the T-cells to attack B-cells, a normal part of the
immune system that turn malignant in leukemia.

The altered T-cells — called chimeric antigen receptor cells
— are then dripped back into the patient’s veins, and if all goes well they
multiply and start destroying the cancer.

The T-cells home in on a protein called CD-19 that is found
on the surface of most B-cells, whether they are healthy or malignant.

The modified T-cells are like active drugs that continue to
protect the body for a long time.

The raw cost of producing modified T-cells - $20,000 – an
order of magnitude less than bone marrow transplant treatment.